Yahoo reveals disappointing Q2 earnings and display ad slump

Yahoo has announced its earnings for the second quarter, and the figures don't make for great reading.

Revenue was $1.08 billion (£630 million), which was down 4 per cent year-on-year. Net earnings came in at $270 million (£158 million) although that included restructuring charges of $33 million (£19 million), and gains from sales of patents of $43 million (£25 million) – that was down 19 per cent compared to Q2 2013.

Net earnings per diluted share was $0.26 (£0.15) which was four cents down in comparison to the same quarter last year.

Not everything was bad news, though – Yahoo Search picked up 6 per cent in terms of revenue year-on-year, and social, mobile, video and native adverts collectively grew by almost 90 per cent.

CEO Marissa Mayer was forthright in admitting that these results weren't good enough, particularly the firm's decline in display ad revenue, which dropped by 8 per cent. But she did say that better was expected for the future – of course Yahoo's announcement that it will be keeping a larger chunk of its stake in Alibaba (with its upcoming IPO) helped placate investors.

Mayer said: "Our top priority is revenue growth and by that measure, we are not satisfied with our Q2 results. While several areas showed strength, their growth was offset by declines."

"In Q2, we saw display revenue decline, further highlighting the fact that we need to work faster to ameliorate the negative trends. I believe we can and will do better moving forward. Overall, I remain confident in Yahoo's future, our strategy, and our return to long-term growth."